Do you believe soldiers are not heroes?

Not exactly a hero. More of an icon, not in the modern sense.

 

Thats what i meant :love:

Rawr

 

I have quite a few friends who are soldiers, and are deployed.
I even have one friend who was shot in Iraq, personally to me he is one of my personal heros, shot twice in Iraq as a Marine and made it home. People don't respect military people. I don't respect the pencil pushers, but as far as a Marine out in the line to me deserves it.

 

Yes, Germany's motives for war were offensive, not defensive. Also, the Allies declared war on Germany because of their belligerent actions.

 

Well i don't think that this is related with our topic, but anyway it's a little too easy to give all the faults to Germany, and to talk about good guys and bad guys (and yes, for personal experience, this is the way the teach history in Canada :/ ).
The imperialism and the urge of expanding it's own nation was shared between the big powers of Europe, Germany was just the most powerful and the most feared. And Germany lost, that's way all the fault it's given to that country

 

I would say they are someone has to do it.

 

So there's a difference between German soldiers and Nazis

 

Attributes you would typically associate with a hero... courage, brave, trustworthy, obedience and so forth. Issues ordered by the government may not be heroic but the act of a soldier performing one of the aforementioned attributes is heroic. Hitler would not be defined as a hero by the majority of the world but there are people who absolutely admire his "heroic" acts in ridding the world of the jewish people... like the old saying "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" a hero is what you perceive it to be.

 

Oh so true, as stated before in this thread "One mans terrorist is another mans Freedom fighter"

 

How are they bad men? They oppressed a group of people? What becomes of Allied forces in the Middle East? You can say one is right and one isn't just because the shoe is on the other foot. Hitler's men did as commanded.

I personally believe they are heroes, regardless of the argument. It's one of those jobs that I wouldn't do, but it needs to be done (not going to start an argument on this either). I'll always support my troops, but not always the wars.

 

Murder's are murder's, no matter how you dress them.

 

I like this one ^^

 

Same ^^

 

Same ^^

 

I think they are heros, and they are fighting for our country. I might not agree with the war but since we are in it I respect the people dying and risking their lives.

 

The Nazi ideology doesn't matter. In the universal sense, they were the obstructors; the instigators. They believed in the worth of annihilating an entire race of people, and the need to conquer the entire world to ensure the immediate survival and propagation of the Aryan race. In order to not contradict with my first statement, that ideology alone would not have mattered had they not acted upon it. The enemy to one country but hero to the world is a hero; the hero to one country but enemy to the world is an enemy.

 

No, incredibly wrong stereotype. The SS and the SA were the people more likely to be nasty, and in agreement with Hitler, the conventional German army was essentially the same as the armed forces of the rest of the world. People in the army didn't neccesarily agree with what Hitler believed in or did, but they still fought in the army (because of contracts, lack of care for the damage that Hitler was doing, or because they agreed with Hitler, although these people were a minority).

Anyway, on topic:-
I think that soldiers are heroes yes. They are willingly putting their lives on the line for us (I know that whether it is for our benefit or subliminal motives of the Government, but I am just generalising the whole idea of the army) and go through extreme stress. In my eyes, this makes them heroes. Unless of course they are criminals, or racist or some other kind of bad person.

 

Who cares if they didn't necessarily agree with it - they ruthlessly slaughtered millions of people. How is that heroic?

 

Almost every army in the world has slaughtered millions of people, but their soldiers are still considered heroic.

Soldiers were generally forced to do these things, due to contracts or because they had been conscripted. They didn't have the choice to say 'No, it is wrong for us to kill people like this'. I am talking about the REGULAR GERMAN ARMY here, the SS and the SA were the racists. The regular army was pretty much the same as every army in the world. They still put their lives on the line for their country.

I AM IN NO WAY SUPPORTING THE NAZI'S, WHAT THEY DID, OR WHAT THEY STOOD FOR. I AM STRONGLY OPPOSED TO THEM. I AM NOT A RACIST. I'M JUST GIVING MY OPINION.

 

I was talking about civilians; civilians from their own country and countries conquered. I know it was mostly the SS and SA, but the regular army still played a role in it.